Morocco is killing thousands of stray animals ahead of 2030 Word Cup
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Harold Cunningham - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
Morocco’s dog-killing practices ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup have been called out, with many calling for regulatory authorities to step in and ‘take action’.
The nation is set to co-host the huge sporting event with Spain in just four years, having been selected alongside Portugal to use its facilities.
The killings are allegedly part of the country’s plan to clean up its streets in light of the event, leading to backlash all over the world.
Omar Jaïd, President of the Provincial Tourism Council of Ifrane, told CNN that it has started cleaning the streets of stray dogs, as part of our preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup.’
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Ifrane is 40 miles from Fez Stadium, one of the venues proposed to be used as a sporting site.
Calling himself a ‘dog lover’, he went on to claim that the pups were not killed but instead taken off the streets and vaccinated at dispensary sites.
However, eyewitnesses and charities have other versions of the story.
“Individuals armed with rifles go out into the streets, often at night, and shoot the dogs,” Les Ward, head of the International Animal Welfare Protection Coalition (IAWPC), told the outlet.
As for the vaccination locations, he says these are ‘municipal dispensaries where they are poisoned’, claiming the dogs 'simply disappear.’
But Morocco maintains its bid to clear up the streets to prevent harm from dogs, who allegedly bite 100,000 annually, per Mohammed Roudani, head of the Public Health and Green Spaces Division at Morocco’s Ministry of Interior.
He added: “Stray dogs pose a serious public health risk, particularly as carriers of rabies.
“Around 100,000 people are bitten every year, 40% of them children under 15.”
His account of the number of bites is supported by Beacon Bio, which published the 2024 stray dog findings which cite the same number of attacks, adding that it resulted in 33 rabies-related deaths.
Because of the rabies in the stray dog population local to the city, the Moroccan government implemented a Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release plan to capture and vaccinate.
However, Roudani lamented that ‘some cities still rely on traditional methods, and there’s currently no law against killing stray dogs,’ which includes poisoning the dogs.
Since the alleged culling came to light, ten animal rights groups petitioned FIFA last February.
In a letter addressed to FIFA’s Secretary General, Jane Goodall, a famed conservationist, wrote that she was ‘absolutely appalled’ by Morocco allegedly ‘engaging in large-scale killings of street dogs as part of an apparent effort to make FIFA World Cup venues more ‘presentable’ to foreign visitors.’
PETA, the animal rights group, claimed in a petition to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco on its website the ‘Moroccan government is reportedly planning to exterminate 99% of all homeless dogs (approximately 3 million of them) across the country.’
It added the methods include shooting them in the streets, setting them on fire, starving them and more.
Tyla reached out to FIFA and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco for comment.